Minnesota Crop News

Haley Johnson, MDA Pesticide Management Supervisor, Tana Haugen-Brown, Extension Educator, UMN Pesticide Safety and Environmental Education program, and Sally Raymond, Extension Educator, UMN Pesticide Safety and Environmental Education program When using pesticides in Minnesota, it’s important to know who to reach out to when you have questions regarding regulations, registration, or other concerns. The Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA) offers specialized resources to help guide pesticide users through the process and ensure compliance with state laws. MDA contacts and resources   Here’s a quick guide to who to contact at the MDA for specific pesticide-related questions Pesticide applicator licensing  For information on pesticide applicator licensing, including aerial applications like drones and UAVs, new licenses, and license renewal, contact the MDA’s licensing division: Phone: 651-201-6615 Email: Pesticide.Licensing@state.mn.us Website: Pesticide Applicator Lic...

Today on the Advancing Nitrogen Smart Podcast we discuss nitrogen fertilizer management and surface water issues. When did we first become aware of nitrates appearing in surface water? What are some of the effects, and who is being affected? What are Minnesota's current nitrate-reduction strategy benchmarks - and are we on target to meet them? What are some of the challenges and success stories Minnesotans should know about? Which organizations can I contact if I'd like to become more involved?  TRANSCRIPT Guests: Brad Carlson, Extension educator and water quality specialist (Mankato) Dan Kaiser, Extension nutrient management specialist (St. Paul) Additional resources: MPCA Nutrient Reduction Strategy Nitrogen Best Management Practices (BMPs) HUC-8 Watersheds Soil and Water Conservation Districts in MN --- Click here to listen to all Advancing Nitrogen Smart podcast episodes. For the latest nutrient management information, subscribe to the Nutrient Management Podcast . An...

Matt Pfarr, Extension educator-crops, Bob Koch, Extension soybean entomologist, and Dave Nicolai, Extension educator-crops The 2025 Field School for Ag Professionals will be held July 29 and 30  at the University of Minnesota Agriculture Experiment Station in St. Paul. Book now to secure summer professional development at the lowest price. Class sizes will be capped to provide instructor access. Register today  and lock in your spot ahead of the busy spring season.  Past participant comment “I have not found a more comprehensive exchange on crop physiology, plant pathology, weed science, entomology and nutrient management. The field school is entirely hands-on learning and occurs in one location.” This program is targeted toward agronomists, crop production retailers, seed dealers, consultants, crop protection industry representatives, Extension educators, government agency personnel, and summer field scouts. Early career ag professionals, their mentors and managers, and...

By Angie Peltier, UMN Extension crops educator and Jeff Coulter, UMN Extension corn agronomist On March 26, 2025, Dennis Todey, USDA Midwest Climate Hub director and Jeff Coulter, UMN Extension corn agronomist, joined UMN Extension crops educator Angie Peltier for a discussion about current field conditions, the spring planting and summer forecasts and things to consider to have the most productive and economical corn and soybean crops in 2025. This was the last weekly episode of the 2025 Strategic Farming: Let’s talk crops! series of webinars.   To watch this and all episodes: http://z.umn.edu/StrategicFarmingRecordings USDA Midwest Climate Hub The overarching goal of the 10 USDA Regional Climate Hubs is to talk about recent, current and forecast weather and climate conditions with various stakeholders and to provide research-based tools to help crop and livestock producers to better mitigate risk. The Midwest Regional Climate Hub covers an eight-state region, including Minnesota...

Neal Kittelson, MDA Pesticide and Fertilizer Management Division and Sally Raymond, UMN PSEE Extension Educator Do you want to learn more about The Minnesota Department of Agriculture’s (MDA) pesticide water quality monitoring program without reading a report? Check out the MDA Pesticide Water Quality Monitoring StoryMaps. The MDA has a robust monitoring program throughout the state to evaluate the impact of routine pesticide and other agricultural chemical use on water resources. The MDA’s Monitoring and Assessment Unit produces an annual Water Quality Monitoring (WQM) Report that summarizes the main findings; however, the report does not cover all the results captured by the program. While the MDA and cooperators have over 30 years of pesticide water quality monitoring data all publicly available, this data has not been in easily accessible formats until now. The MDA has developed a collection of StoryMaps to present all the WQM pesticide data in a more accessible and interactive for...

By: Daniel Kaiser, Extension soil fertility specialist While many growers opt for P and K applications in the fall, applying any fertilizer months ahead of when the crop needs it can present some risk for lessening the availability of a nutrient as it has more time to react with the soil. Past AFREC-funded research has shown that spring application of phosphorus resulted in higher corn yield compared to fall application. The next step was to look at whether the same can be said about potassium. Past research has shown that the availability of potassium measured by soil tests does change over time where soil test values are higher in the spring and lower in the summer at points in time where crops are taking up high amounts of potassium. From the perspective of timing, I have not found that the soil test varies in June regardless of whether fertilizer K was applied in the fall or spring. In contrast, soil test phosphorus was almost always less when comparing fall versus spring fertiliz...